Little Pink Starfish

It was late at night when the Star finally returned.

<…What is this?>

Settling on the back of my hand, the Star asked abruptly.

<Did something good happen? Your face looks much brighter.>

“…Really?”

I replied with a smile, and the Star sighed.

<Well… it suits you.>

It muttered as it floated up into the center of the room.

Flash!

In a sudden gleam of light, I blinked—and when I opened my eyes again, the Star had taken on the form of its young, childlike self.

“…Why the sudden transformation? Did you learn anything about Aiden?”

I rubbed my eyes and asked. The Star smirked and extended a hand toward me.

“Creature, would you care to join me for a walk beneath the moonlight?”

“…Are you seriously ignoring my question right now?”

“Of course. A petty question like that doesn’t suit a night like this.”

The Star turned to look out the window.

“The full moon is bright, and the stars are shining. It’s a perfect sky for flying.”

“…What?”

“No more chatter. Come with me.”

Grabbing my hand, the Star dragged me toward the window.

“Wait! Hey! Don’t tell me—”

An ominous feeling swept over me.

“If you’re thinking it, you’re right. I am ‘The Star Hated by All’—always planning the worst-case scenario.”

Whoosh!

With a flap of its scorched wings, the Star opened the window and perched on the frame, taking off with my wrist in its grasp.

Below us, the city lights stretched far and wide.

A cool night wind blew past, tossing my hair wildly.

With every gust against my face, it felt like my brain might shatter!

“Hey! HEY!”

I cried out in desperation.

“I’m afraid of heights!!”

My voice echoed across the night sky.

---

“Hff… ngh…”

I slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

My legs had gone weak—I couldn’t muster the strength to stand.

<…Tch.>

The Star clicked its tongue, looking down at me.

“With courage like this, and yet you went around talking about throwing yourself off buildings? Pathetic!”

“Sh-Shut up…”

I barely managed to lift myself up.

Shhhh—

A breeze swept by, carrying the twinkling night view of the city.

“It’s too high…!”

I shouted, curling up.

“Poor creature.”

The Star placed a hand on my head.

“Stand up and look properly. You know where this is, don’t you?”

“…Huh?”

I slowly rose and looked around.

The scenery far below felt overwhelmingly distant.

If not for the Star, I would’ve never come to a place this high.

And yet, I knew exactly where we were.

“This is…”

The rooftop of the Hunter Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

The very place—

“…where I planned to die.”

The location I had written in my suicide note.

“So you remember at last.”

The Star smiled slyly.

“A fine view indeed. But alas, merely scenery of the mortal realm.”

After basking in the cityscape, the Star flopped onto the concrete and gestured at me.

“Creature, lie down beside me. If you do, the ground will disappear from view. Only the sky will remain.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

I crouched next to the Star.

“But I don’t really want to lie next to you.”

“Your tantrum is amusingly trivial to me.”

The Star chuckled and looked at me.

“I wonder how you felt that day.”

“What?”

“When you came here with your mother.”

“…I dunno.”

I sighed.

“When Mom said, ‘Let’s go together,’ I couldn’t say anything. I just followed her.”

The rooftop door had been locked, of course.

I expected that—safety precautions and all.

But even so, windows on upper floors were often left wide open, while the rooftop alone was tightly sealed.

A little strange, but given the right height, someone could jump from anywhere.

“…But that day, I held Mom’s hand and looked out the window.”

I remember thinking, So this is what the world looks like from up high.

And then, an overwhelming fear took hold.

But it wasn’t the height that frightened me.

It was the sight of the ground—so crowded, so full of life—that terrified me.

To think I had planned to throw myself into that swarming mass of people.

That’s what scared me.

More precisely, it felt like revulsion.

Like seeing a wriggling mass of bugs—that kind of fear.

And I think over time, that feeling just became acrophobia.

“I see.”

The Star replied quietly.

“I can understand your fear of heights a little better now. You and I are alike, in how we find the world of humans repulsive.”

Then the Star gave a wry smile.

“But don’t worry. The scenery of the human realm is too worthless for us to discuss tonight.”

It pointed a small hand toward the sky.

“Let us speak of stars instead. Creature, look at those stars. So small and twinkling…”

The Star’s smile faded.

“…Don’t they make you want to throw up?”

“Maybe.”

I looked up at the sky.

Stars—symbols of the Constellations.

Each star, including Earth, bore the divine essence of a god.

“I was once a star.”

The Star said.

“The brightest of them all. If the all-powerful Papa is the cosmos itself, then Constellations are but flickering lights within His embrace. And I was once the most treasured of all stars.”

I listened silently.

“…Aren’t you curious?”

With a mischievous grin, the Star asked,

“How one so radiant became the King of Hell?”

“That story’s kind of famous. Probably being told in some church right now.”

‘The Star Hated by All’ was once the most beautiful and powerful angel.

But it challenged The Savior Who Is One and All—the mightiest being.

And no matter how dazzling or strong the Star was, it was no match.

It fell into the Abyss and became the King of Hell.

“Yes, indeed. I was arrogant.”

The Star looked nostalgic, but then its expression turned somber.

“I always wondered—why would a perfect Papa create imperfect beings who reject perfection?”

It began speaking quietly, as if reciting an ancient myth written in the constellations.

Long ago, Eden was an incubator created by The Savior Who Is One and All.

A zoo of creations.

Or perhaps a paradise.

As long as they lived there, the creations could bask in eternal blessing—as long as they did not eat the fruit of good and evil.

“But in the end, every race ate the fruit.”

The first race did.

And they were cast out.

Why?

“I asked why.”

Why would you reject eternal happiness and choose to be sinners?

…Is that not suicide?

They said it was curiosity.

Just curious.

That’s all it took to be banished from paradise.

Papa deemed them flawed—loved them still, but did not forgive.

Then came the second race.

And the third.

And the fourth and fifth.

Each time, the Star asked:

Why?

You’ll fall into Hell if you eat it.

But they all answered the same.

Because we’re curious.

“…I never understood why they chose sin.”

Were they satisfied?

Surely they fell into Hell.

Were they still content?

“…Eventually, I became curious too.”

The fruit meant nothing to the Star—it had no effect on a being like it.

“Because good and evil are meaningless to angels.”

So instead, it turned against the one who decided what was good and evil.

“I was curious.”

The Star smiled bitterly.

“I was so curious, I raised my sword to Papa.”

It was, strictly speaking, an act of suicide.

No matter how mighty the Star was, it could not defeat The Savior Who Is One and All.

“I knew that.”

But still, it wanted to try.

Because it was curious.

“What would happen if I pointed my blade at Papa?”

“That’s why you fell to Hell.”

“The brightest star fell to the darkest place… the same as all the creations cast from Eden.”

“Were you satisfied?”

I asked the Star.

“Falling into Hell… were you satisfied?”

“Hm. Who knows? If you had jumped that day, would you have been?”

“…That’s…”

“If you had jumped, you would’ve come to me.”

Rising, the Star said.

“You would’ve spent eternity with me in a pit with no stars. And if that had happened…”

It reached out toward me.

“I would’ve truly cherished you.”

With a gentle expression, the Star’s small hand touched my face.

Maybe it was the childlike form, but it felt like innocent curiosity.

“…Thank you.”

I didn’t quite know what being cherished in Hell meant—but I said it anyway.

“Creature.”

The Star whispered.

“I couldn’t find anything suspicious about Aiden. But he’s hiding something.”

“…Yeah.”

If the Star couldn’t detect anything, that only made him more dangerous.

“As for that bug encyclopedia creature, we still don’t know much.”

“…True.”

“And strange ones like them will keep crawling our way.”

I nodded.

“…Perhaps it’s because I’m ‘The Star Hated by All.’”

“What…?”

I never expected the Star to say something like that.

It was worried that I was in danger because it was the original sinner.

“Hold on—”

I opened my mouth, desperate to say something.

But the Star interrupted me.

“Then promise me.”

Its tone left no room for argument.

“No matter what happens, I will not let you die. Even if you wish for it yourself—I will not allow it.”

“…Haha.”

I must’ve really worried it.

For the Star to say something like that…

“Don’t say ominous stuff like that.”

I stood up.

“I’m not going to die.”

When the Star asked every creation why they bit into the forbidden fruit—

Maybe it was because…

…they didn’t want to die.

That thought crossed my mind.

“Good.”

The Star smiled and held out a hand.

“Let’s go back.”

Whoosh!

Its wings fluttered.

“We still have much to do, don’t we?”

“Yeah. We need to prepare for the performance…”

…I even felt brave enough to check online reactions now.

“Then, creature, take this body’s hand.”

“Uh… but…”

There was still one thing I wasn’t ready for.

“On the way back, could we just, I dunno… teleport or something?”